Organizational Dynamics of Party Moderation and Party Extremism: Toward New Analytical Frameworks

Abstract

Why do some mainstream parties adopt more extreme ideologies and why do the so-called extreme parties become more moderate in time? In other words, what explains the ideological transformation of extreme and mainstream parties toward opposite directions? How do the organizational dynamics of political parties affect such transformative processes? The theories on party change, extremism and moderation have provided some plausible answers to these questions, yet there is room for improvement through contemporary research on new cases and adoption of new analytical frameworks. More importantly, it would be interesting to find out whether the causes of party extremism and party moderation highlight two contrasting processes like these two outcomes? For instance, inclusion-moderation theory suggests that the more an extremist party is included in electoral competition, the more it follows a path to moderation. Would the exclusion of parties from electoral processes, then, in an opposite direction, radicalize parties? On the other hand, the existing literature does not emphasize organizational explanations much for these outcomes as much as it emphasizes the exogenous explanations such as economic and political crises, social cleavage structures, or the role of state forces. Yet, what happens inside parties organizations when a party goes through an ideological transformation in such a radical way? In order to seek answers for such questions, it is also important to adopt a coherent conceptual approach to party extremism and party moderation. Do these concepts negate each other, or are they symmetrically opposed? (Party moderation, in general, means a party’s adjustment to the attributes of the mainstream social-economic and political environment of the country whereas an extremist party is often described as a party, which shows severe discontent with the existing environment). To sum up, this panel aims to bring together papers that approach the ideological transformation of parties along the moderation-extremism line, welcoming not only comparative studies, but also in-depth case study exercises, which highlight the weaknesses of existing theories & conceptual frameworks and suggest new analytical approaches.

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